When you have creatives at the helm of a fragrance label – instead of shrewd marketers out to make a quick buck – you get a nice range of standout perfumes.

At Puredistance, the scents are noteworthy for their long-lasting sillage due to an exceptionally high content of perfume oil.

All seven Parfum de Extrait in the range contain between 25 and 38 per cent of perfume, “hence the higher cost and prices”, explains the brand’s founder Jan Ewoud Vos.

His rationale for using so much perfume oil in the juices: they fuse with the skin’s natural scent for longer.

Prices of Puredistance parfums start from 175 euros for 17.5ml. Pick a crystal and 24 carat gold flacon and prices go up to 1,890 euros for 17.5ml.

“As I give a perfumer a brief, I also give them an unlimited budget and time,” says Vos, who is also a photographer.

This freedom is rare in the tightly-controlled perfume industry where profit margins rule the day.

For that reason, when Vos announced in 2007 that he was going to launch a perfume label and make money from it, his friends thought he was being ridiculous.

“They wondered how I was going to compete with the larger brands. But I wanted to create something timeless and build a dream around it. I settled on perfumes, because people are emotionally attached to scents, as they are filled with memories. Fragrances are the perfect carriers for a timeless brand,” says Vos.

Enticing them with creative freedom, Puredistance has commissioned master perfumers – such as Annie Buzantian of Estee Lauder Pleasures fame; and Antoine Lie who created the infamous Secretions Magnifique and cult favourite Tom of Finland by Etat Libre d’Orange – for its juices.

To help them work their magic, Vos sends the perfumers briefs almost like a secret admirer sends out love letters.

For the creation of Puredistance’s Sheiduna, he snail-mailed perfumer Cecile Zarokian (creator of Amouage Epic and Laboratorio Olfativvo’s Nerotic) a postcard every week for eight weeks to inspire her.

“I shot the pictures on the cards myself, such as a sand dune that conveys the warmth, emptiness, and sensuality in the air of the dessert when the sun is setting. The perfume is thus made to be sensual and subtle, but not sexual. Like French actresses,” says Vos.

The resulting blend is a beautiful oriental with notes of tangerine, lemon, blackcurrant, aldehydes, Bulgarian rose essence, geranium, cloves, vetiver, patchouli, amber wood, incense, benzoin, myrrh, tonka bean, vanilla pod and musk in a 27 per cent perfume oil.

Today, Puredistance is available in 35 countries (from Azerbaijan to Croatia and Iran) across 80 stores. In Singapore, it is available at Maven, Takashimaya Department Store Level 3.

TBG Picks:

Sheiduna 

Puredistance 1 – with Annie Buzantian’s signature white floral bouquet and white musk base. Contains notes of  tangerine blossom, cassis, neroli bigarade, magnolia, rose wardia, jasmine, mimosa, sweet amber, vetiver and white musk in 32 per cent perfume oil.

Opardu – also by Buzantian. Blended with notes of tuberose absolute, gardenia, Bulgarian rose, lilac, carnation, jasmine absolute, heliotrope and cedar wood in 32 per cent perfume oil.

White – by the super creative Antoine Lie. Rose de Mai from France, Italian orris, Mysore sandalwood, Italian bergamot, Venezuelan tonka bean, musk, Haitian Vetiver, and Indonesian Patchouli in 38 per cent perfume oil.

Photos:  Puredistance

Text: © The Beauty Gazette